Duckett family Essay

The current trend of journalism organizations to hire screaming journalists like Nancy Grace and others is a disservice to the Fourth Estate and threatens the very notion of a free press. Grace and others of her ilk are not reporters seeking the news for its value to the normal public nor are they attempting to inform. These confrontational entertainers are more interested in high ratings and controversary than in the news. Furthermore, their lack of general human compassion is endangering the entire profession.never is this more clear than in the case of the family of Melinda Duckett vs. CNN and Nancy Grace. In September, 2006, Melinda Ducketts two-year-old son was reported missing and Duckett agreed to appeared on Graces show in an effort to promote the manhunt for her missing child. Grace was belligerent and in the chars face, screaming at her because she would not discuss her whereabouts when the child disappeared and accusing the woman of having something to do with her childs disappearance. (Smoking Gun, 2006). Ducketts son has still not been found, scarce a day after the hearing with Grace, the woman shot and killed herself with a shotgun.In the days following Ducketts death, Grace not only aired the original consultation berating the distraught woman, but she went on the periodic news herself, defending her interviewing techniques. Former public prosecutor turned talk show host Nancy Grace is unapologetic about her aggressive approach to a give who committed suicide after an interview about the womans missing son, ABC News reported (Nancy Grace says unrighteousness). Grace showed no human compassion for the mother in the interview or in the days after her death.Drawing on her history as a turn prosecutor, Grace attacked in a manner more appropriate for a courtroom than a newsroom. That is not to say that reporters should not ask tough questions, but they should not browbeat an interviewee and speak over them as is reported Grace did. Reporters have a responsibility to seek out the news not ready it. In her attacks on Melinda Duckett, Nancy Grace went beyond the level and stepped back into her prosecutorial aim, attempting to find the criminal. How is that inquisitive doing anything but making a person in a grand situation feeling even more desperate? tell Hub Brown, a professor at Syracuse Universitys Newhouse School of Communications. (ABC News) Grace defended her unrelenting questioning as a serach for truth and said police later agreed with her that Melinda Duckett is a suspect in her sons disappearance. What police actually said was that in a child disappearance, the parents are always the initial suspect. Almost a year later, Ducketts son has still not been found. What has happened, however, is that Grace has effectuate all legitimate journalists in danger of having their rights revoked due to her drive for ratings.In November, 2006, the parents of Melinda Duckett filed a lawsuit against Grace, CNN and Ducket ts estranged husband who helped arrange the Grace interview (Smoking Gun). And, in June, 2007, a Florida court ruled that the case had merit and would be tried in federal court because the participants reside in multiple jurisdictions ( control in). By bringing this kind of unwanted spectacle to the media, Grace is causing a chilling effect that will lead to fewer people wanting to cooperate with the media and could ultimately lead to a restriction in the rights of journalists.Her lack of basic human compassion is more relevant than whether Melinda Duckett killed or abducted her own son. The role of the media is not to determine the truth, but to report that truth after it has been exhibited by others. While some investigative journalists might argue this point, the reality is that even investigative journalists do not draw their own conclusions about the news. They search for facts and report them. Nancy Grace took facts not in evidence and applied them to the Duckett case, makin g herself judge, jury and prosecutor of Melinda Duckett without giving Duckett the benefit of a defense attorney.Grace, however, insists her line of questioning was reasonable. In an exclusive interview with Good Morning America today, Grace said that she takes no responsibility for Ducketts suicide. If anything, I would suggest that guilt made her commit suicide, Grace told ABC News Chris Cuomo. To suggest that a 15 or 20 minute interview can cause someone to commit suicide is focusing on the wrong thing, she said. (ABC NEWS) Graces attitude in the force out of Ducketts suicide is another black eye for the face of journalism.Her unapologetic accusations against the dead woman seemed to indicate that she believes her questioning was appropriate even if it did contribute to Ducketts death. Her claim that even the police agree with me (ABC News), does little to redeem Grace in the eyes of the general public. Instead, she is seen as so concerned about her ratings that she would impe rsonate them above human safety. That attitude seems to be in evidence on her webpage. Grace actually advertises for crime victims to call her show and become part of the frolic value of the news (CNN.com) Though she places her calls for tips in the framework of helping crime victims seek justice, her show advocates her Cross Exam and her prosecutorial drive to find the answers to crime. If Ms. Grace believed that root out crime was her calling, she should not have left the prosecutors office for the media. Her style of journalism is an insult to those who attempt to keep the Fourth Estate free of prejudice and predetermined opinions. Instead, based on her experience, Grace makes judgments calls about peoples guilt as she did with Melinda Duckett and reports the news based on her interpretation of events.She had an exclusive interview with the mother of a missing child, a child police still presume to be alive. Instead of carefully crafter questions designed to help government ac tivity and the general public find the missing boy, Grace decided that badgering Melinda Duckett would mean better ratings. For the sake of the industry, one can only hope that the Duckett family attorneys cannot analyse that greed and not news was Graces motivation. If they prove that she sought ratings over the truth and therefore did contribute to the death of Melinda Duckett, the chilling effect on all media will be extreme.Her unreasonably harsh questioning methods place all media attempts to get to the truth in danger and violates the most basic principle of the Fourth Estate to inform. Nancy Grace has no intention to inform the general public of anything the day she interviewed Melinda Duckett except for her own conviction that Duckett was responsible for her sons disappearance. This kind of action has no role in journalism, but belongs in editorial and opinion pages, not disguised as news.WORKS CITEDABCNews. com. Nancy Grace says Guilt Likely Made Mother Commit Suicide , J une 24, 2007. Nancy Grace Homepage. http//www. cnn. com/CNN/Programs/nancy. grace/, June 24, 2007. Ruling Made in Duckett-Grace Case , June 24, 2007. The Smoking Gun, Nancy Grace Sued for Wrongful cobblers last , June 24, 2007.